KOCHI: As the country celebrates the appointment of Rishi Sunak as Britain’s first Indian-origin prime minister, across the Atlantic in the Canadian city of Cornwall, a new mayor with roots in Kochi was elected on Tuesday.
Justin Towndale, who won the Cornwall mayor election defeating incumbent Glen Grant, has a Kochi connection. His parents, Angelo Towndale and Pushpy Angelo, migrated to Canada from Kochi about 52 years back, according to their relatives here.
While Angelo Towndale belonged to Pallimukku in Kochi, his wife is from the Kalappurakkal family in Edakochi.
“After completing his postgraduation with distinction from Ernakulam Maharaja’s College, Angelo went to the US for a doctorate in social science. He then successfully pursued his second doctorate in Canada, before joining the Canadian government service for the rehabilitation of drug-addicted youths and sexually harassed persons,” said Wilson Kalappurakkal, brother of Pushpy.
He said Angelo was the recipient of ‘The Prime Minister’s Award for Outstanding Civilian’.
Towndale is the only son of the Angelo-Pushpy couple.
Towndale’s wife is a Canadian Sarah Beach, who was also his co-campaign manager in the municipal elections.
During the campaign, he had said the top priority of his programme was housing.
Other platform planks included fiscal responsibility, attracting medical professionals to the city, accessibility, policing, lobbying higher levels of government, and various green initiatives such as going paperless and car sharing.
Wilson said his sister Pushpy, her husband Angelo and their son Towndale came to Kochi last about eight years back when his mother died.
Towndale totalled 5,169 votes, 51.55 per cent of the total ballots cast, and incumbent mayor Glen Grant finished with 4,088, which is 40.77 per cent of the total vote.